surprise arrest

Well, guess where I am?  Ming and M and I are at a Starbucks in Bishop.  We decided to drive through Death Valley and Owens Valley today.  We'll camp here overnight and drive home to Sacramento tomorrow, stopping at Mono Lake on the way.

Guess what we did this morning?  We got arrested!  The workers were not ready for us.  No one was there at the line.  So we crossed the line a few times unseen for fun and took pictures of one another.

Then workers showed up, first one, then more.  We asked them if they wanted to pray with us.  They didn't answer.  So M prayed, and then we sang "Oh, Great Spirit" four or five times, holding hands.

Then we walked to the line, and a guard greeted us kindly.  "Is anyone going to get arrested today?" he asked.

"Would that be okay with you?" M asked, which makes me smile now as I type it.

The guard explained he didn't have the keys to the pens.  Anyway, Ming and I crossed, holding hands, and were directed toward a rough table which they called a bench.  We leaned against it, holding hands and talking.  Ming noticed my nose was looking red and gave me his hat.

Then the guard told us he didn't have the right citations with him and he'd have to drive back to the office for them.  He apologized for the delay, which makes me smile too.

So we waited, and then he wrote our tickets.  I used my Shoshone land entry permit as my ID, nice touch.

That was morning--now it's night, and we need to go to our campsite and go to bed.  Sweet dreams!